OK, if summer was a little slow (for me anyway) with new music that made me do a double take this early entry into fall has already got my noggin on a swivel like I'm Linda Blair in the Exorcist. But instead of Satan's vomit I'm spewing words of excitement over a bumper crop of great new music both from long-standing familiar favs (Great Falls, Will Haven, KEN Mode), as well as a bunch of new up-and-comers (Silk Leash, Kircher, We. and more!). Heck, the season is already so chock full of excellent new stuff that I kind of already have next months block of reviews mapped out. So just give me a minute to catch up, alright?
FEEFAWFUM, “100”
Upon getting underway with listening to the new LP from Oakland group FeeFawfum I was instantly transported to the early aughts by way of quirky and bouncy sassy punk like Q And Not U. As the record goes on though it deviates into a little more goofy-sounding and somewhat chaotic bits, and I don’t mean that derisively. So instead of nose-in-the-air hipster nonsense it musically comes off as more fun and a bit spazzy, which is cool. Despite that I guess based on the bands own album description a lot of this record is about dealing with being a diabetic…. so ya know, not so funny. Still, the band sound exceptionally fun in a freaked out way on “Plucked” before the second half of “Miles Away” slows things down to a melancholy instrumental revolving around mostly synths and sampled noises. (self-released)
GET WELL, “Burning the Village To Feel It’s Warmth” EP
For a band whose name makes me think they’re a youth crew band (I’m getting them mixed up with Be Well) this is very confusing. And disorienting. Have you heard this? Of course not, that’s why you’re reading this. It’s a really unsettling listen. The vocals come at you harsh as fuck, channeling some Botch energy. So you’re then expecting crushing guitars and math-y parts, but instead it’s almost clean guitars, jangling and jabbing at you like some sociopath with a Swiss army knife and a wound fetish. The first song really throws me off from what I’ve just described but by the time track two rolls around it begins to settle in that this is something weird. Yet it’s only three tracks total so there’s never really a full adjustment period. That’s kind of a good thing though- keep people guessing, never let them feel at ease, and left a bit uncomfortable. Recorded in a roller rink. Cool, cool. Even more discomfort at that thought where a campy horror movie style murder definitely isn’t going to happen. (self-released)
GREAT FALLS, “Objects Without Pain” 2xLP
I’m going to be partial to these guys because I’ve released stuff for them and their other bands and they live in the area. So any hint of journalistic integrity is kind of kaput here. It’s not like I’m going to lie and tell you this doesn’t rule. I feel like Great Falls are a band that consistently outdoes themselves each time and it’s quite a feat to do so honestly. Their music is so emotionally exhausting, cathartic and crushing, and done so in ways that often defy what average musicians should be able to pull off. And to be as prolific as they have been just makes it more bewildering. Basically, Great Falls are the current high water mark for bands doing chaotic, emotionally draining, math-y noisecore. Are all those words together a subgenre? Whatever. They easily transition from blasting, knotty riffs that shouldn’t make sense (but eventually do) into world-ending Neurosis-like sludgy doom, and somber reprieves…. and writing long songs. And now with Nick Parks (Gaytheist) playing drums things sound even more violent and intense. But be warned, the theme, or sort of concept, of this record is some truly depressing adult-in-limbo distress. It’s that real life existential musings on failure, family, trying to cope with giant life changes in middle age sort of shit. It’s hard. So take that as you will. Like all releases from this band their presentation is stellar, with intricate artwork, as well as some bonus stuff with a letterpressed booklet (designed and handmade by the band) and extra song for the obsessive weirdos like me. Hey, I’m a guy like me! Nevertheless, everything about this band and record gives you 100% of what they have and then some and on the live front you’ll either go deaf, get your neck swiped by a swinging bass guitar, or cry…. or maybe all of the above. What you’ll never be is shortchanged. (Neurot)
GRIDLINK, “Coronet Juniper”
It’s been a number of years since Gridlink gave us all new music to get whiplash to. I’d long been a fan of vocalist Jon Chang, ever since shredding his throat for grind maestros Discordance Axis. His undeniable shriek is all over this record (well, not the second half, but I’ll get to that in a minute). Musically it’s in that same vein, but there’s more emphasis on classically trained guitar to go along with the seemingly endless blast beats. Sure, these guys all love grindcore, but they also love video game music. So imagine those concepts of wailing guitar over Sonic going like a thousand miles an hour collecting coins like a fiend, or Camy kicking the shit out you in an alley and apply it with blast beats. The first handful of tracks here lean a bit more into those ideas, along with lots of leads. But once they get to “Octave Serpent” and going basically until the rest of the record things just become straight up vicious, with songs barely passing the minute mark and just absolutely killing it. That’s the best stuff. Now here’s where it gets weird. There’s 22 tracks listed here with the second half listed as ‘karaoke’ versions of all the previous 11 tracks. It sounds like it could be something fun, or a goof with this group’s sense of humor. But it’s just all instrumental versions of those songs. So just a fun name for instrumental tracks I guess? Either way, the vocalized record is a compact 19 minutes and 11 tracks, which is basically the perfect length of time to experience a grind record. Anything more than that and your head will explode. (Willowtip)
KEN MODE, “Void”
The quick follow up to last year’s “Null”, KEN Mode strike back with more insidious noise racket. I’m unsure if this is supposed to be a companion record to “Null” and written in the same time frame, though the similar cover art alludes to as much. However, I’m more inclined to see this as their side record where they get to fuck around more with sounds you wouldn’t normally chalk up to the KEN Mode sound. Tracks like “These Wires”, which, I’m not gonna lie, sounds like an emo Steve Erkle for the first half. But then they go into “We’re Small Enough”, an instrumental that uses spacey synths alongside a cold post-punk sort of Killing Joke thing. It’s not long before they jump back into the absolutely crushing berating they’re known for with the plodding “I Cannot” and that’s probably my favorite (arguably best) song on the album. If “Null” was the official introduction for newest member Kathryn Kerr- with her accompanying saxophone on a few tracks, as well as noise/synth additions- than this record truly folds her completely into the fabric of the band and gives them another dimension. “A Reluctance Of Being” has her saxophone playing a somber and jazzy lead for the entire first half of the track while it bellows and wails spastically during the repetitive and cacophonous second half of the track. The last two songs on the record take a decidedly less aggressive approach as the vocals are mostly spoken, the bass is overall less distorted and keeps a simplistic repetition on both songs, and there is more piano, sax, and even some strings (on “Not Today, Old Friend”). Yeah, it’s a different turn for the otherwise highly confrontational KEN Mode, but it’s awesome they have given it a go and for the most part, it works. Not to worry for those who appreciate consistency- at least three of the 8 songs here will beat the ever-lovin’ snot out of you in the way you’re used to. (Artoffact)
KIRCHER, s/t EP
I’m not sure if this can be called a side project when the ‘main’ project isn’t super active. What do you call that? Adjacent project? Whatever, it’s all semantics. Kircher is the project of fellas from Prayer Group and it doesn’t stray super far from that, but they do exorcise a few additional musical demons on this EP offering that you may not encounter in Prayer Groups riffy racket. Kircher definitely toss in some of their loud and brash noise rock clanging around, heavy on Jesus Lizard/Pissed Jeans/Blacklisters sort of worship and that’s never a reason to be mad. However, midway track “How I Learned To Start Worrying…” (and it’s short noise intro before it) delves into some droney chatter over trance-y drug-addled jamming. Lyrically, Chat Pile would like you to hold their beer. Final track “Gone” is lengthy and pulses uncomfortably with added effects akin to what the dudes in Haunted Horses get up to before it busts into some “Souls At Zero”-era Neurosis apocalyptic slow burn. It’s certainly the odd track out but it’s a good one. So you get three more straightforward heavy rockers and a trio of varying levels of weirdness with mixed results. Give it a try why not? (Fisher King Records)
SILK LEASH, s/t
Not exactly a new band, but my first encounter with their brand of audio terrorism. These Maryland filth addicts let loose with all the ugly swagger and self-injurious punk destruction akin to Pissed Jeans after they fell into a dumpster of used syringes. I know it’s a fairly easy comparison, but it’s apt. I’d say Silk Leash aren’t as up front about their humor (if they have any) but they bring unsettling noise rock in relatively quick bursts for the first half of this full length and then let fate take their hand as they close out things with “You Are Replaceable” comprised of a a winding bass looping amongst swirling chaos and hitting every guitar pedal they own just to see what happens. But packed between the opening 90 seconds track of this record and the closers five minutes-plus of fuck all abandon are 8 more punchy and dastardly ripping jams. (self-released)
WE., “Blursed” EP
Wild and weird chaos from the wastelands of Ohio comes the difficult-to-google We.. One guy plays a two-string bass and sings while the other bashes drums. But for two guys it’s a whole bunch of racket and it’s pretty awesome. Much of the song structures and tones they’re getting out of that wacky bass are really akin to Denver noiseniks Moon Pussy, while adding in a big trashy sound similar to another band reviewed a couple months back called Big Clown. But instead of a full band just imagine two fellows fucking up your day. While the content of the songs seems to be serious there’s definitely a sense of fun, what with naming their EP “Blursed”, as well as the crazy structure to these songs- chaotic but having a good time doing it. By the time they get to “Behind Closed Doors” there’s no fucking around and maximum damage occurs. I’m all for it. Pretty rad overall. (self-released)
WILL HAVEN, “VII”
Will Haven is nothing if not extremely consistent. They’ve barely changed their sound in the 25+ years they have been a band and it’s pretty much guaranteed that if you like one of their albums you will probably like all of them. At times they have leaned more into their mix of sludge metal and atmospheric sounds (like on 2011’s “Voir Dire”), but you will never not catch them throwing in heaps of their chugging metallic groove throughout. “VII” is a fine addition to their rather large body of work and I’d say focuses more on their chug-chug-chug style, as well as on shorter songs. Will Haven has long been their own beast, even though many want to lump them into nu-metal, which I think is far off-base. They are a band that favors slick production, lots of low end hostility, and tight groove but you’ll never see them attempting to rap and they all love Neurosis so there’s that. They’ve toured with plenty of arena-packing nu-metal bands, but hey, why not play in front of a huge crowd if you can, right? Whatever the case, Will Haven has always paired their desire-to-punch-a-parking-meter stomp with slow and crushing riffs, pained screaming, and spooky atmospheric noise to make something all their own. It’s a thing I like, and I will continue to like Will Haven because they’re great at what they do. (Minus Head Records)
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